Refilling Your Inkjet Cartridges

[joroho]

After putting out $40 for inkjet cartridges yet again tonight, I'm curious about the success any of you have had in refilling your cartridges. Has it worked well? Where's the best place to get a kit? What do you wish you would've known before trying to do this?

.joel.

[ss-kalm]

Joel,

I have a Lexmark Z22 and always refill the cartridges. I never have problems refilling, but after approx 3 refills, the cartridges need to be replaced anyway, as they start giving problems. I think it's maybe the wear on the printheads.
With the price of the refill kits and the price of new, I'll always try to refill before I garbage the cartridges. As I said, I've had very good results.

[pauland]

It's been 15 years since I last tried to refill my ink cartridges and I made a terrible mess and wasted the money. Haven't done so since!

These days our main printer is a HP CP1700 and I try and look after it and wouldn't risk putting 3rd party ink in it.

A lot of people seem to get great results refilling though.

Paul

[handrawn]

I have had bad experiences with refills I would not do it from choice.

Actually I use generic cartridges in my Epson - a lot cheaper [quarter the price of Epson] and they have always worked fine.

However that said: I am a cartoonist precise color fidelity is not usually an issue, when its important I get a printer to print.
In my experience, generic cartridges tend to be more variable in color from one to the next and not be lightfast to the same degree as the Brand names, that I guess is one reason why they are cheaper
I stick to one make as well.

[Albacore]

Really depends on what type of cartridge it is. Canon no problems buy a replacement every year as the wadding gets soft and it is refilled every week. Hp type more difficult only refill three times and then buy new and they are a tri-colour cartridge. I buy I.M.S ink refill system which gives instructions for type and accessories but don't try and use there Photo-magenta & Photo-cyan as it is too thin and runs right through the print head. I would have charge more for proofs if I didn't use re-fills.

[parahandy]

I sent for a bargain offer buy one get one free so I ordered 5 and of course got 10 all costing just under £30. All went well until the first colour one ran out replaced it and after printing one or two pictures the blooming thing choked my ink jets and just co0uln't clear them. So one printer up the creek and about 8 spare cartridges. I had to buy a new printer Epson type again, the price of replacement cartridges for it is almost as much as the new printer. I think the price of replaement is a rip off.

[handrawn]

Bummer Norman

I buy generic but quality ones from reputable suppliers - they cost around £5/6 each.
It is a risk, and I don't think I'd buy a 'special offer' in either sense of that word, it usually means something they want shut of [me cynic].
I think they sell printers deliberately cheap and then make money on the refills - another well tested commercial practice - but quality ink does cost money - so I understand.

[zaphodeist]

I was told that refilling cartridges only works a couple of times and that the ersatz 'compatible' ones are only half or, at best, three quarters full - and this was info from a seller of such stuff! A friend of mine bought a Dell computer with a printer that was identical to the Lexmark I had at the time, except the cartridges in the Dell have an extra bit of plastic shaping that means you have to go direct to Dell and pay their prices. There seems to be a lot of chicanery going on in this area

I have an HP printer now and buy direct. No problems so far, but not cheap!

John

[handrawn]

its true enough that the quantities of ink may vary - thats a good reason for being choosy

[stlewis]

The other option is try a laser. They are still expensive to refill but at 4000 pages or so it happens less often.

I guess the quality for a photo is higher with most inkjets but for a lot of stuff a laser is better and certainly less hassle.